Our new fregola sarda

We have been making pasta for you for a few years now and are constantly looking for ways to improve our techniques and recipes. We often go back and forth to Italy and on each visit The Pasta Maker returns brimming with new ideas and inspiration. This was the case for our new fregola sarda which is a little known and ancient pasta and the best is made completely from scratch and by hand. Here’s how we do it.

We start with a large, wide-mouthed mixing bowl, large enough for you to move your open hand around in sweeping circles.

Ingredients for Fregola Sarda

The ingredients for fregola sarda are simple. However, the process is quite long and requires a great deal of patience.

We add small amounts of semolina to the mixing bowl, about 1 cup at a time. This is then gently sprayed with the water after which the process of gently rolling the semolina around the mixing bowl begins. After time the semolina will form into small, irregularly sized balls of pasta.

Once the fregola are formed, they are baked in the oven for toasting. This gives them wonderful nutty flavor

How to cook fregola sarda

Fregola are not cooked like everyday pasta, instead they are used in risotto-like dishes that can take up to 20 minutes or so and which allow each grain to absorb flavors slowly. Go ahead and use them in any of your favorite risotto recipes.